Just a few comments:
First, I'm not a Slocum apologist. Simply trying to get people to see just how bad YSU men's basketball has been at the D1 level prior to Slocum, with the exception of Mike Rice(only HC above .500) and with Dan Peters. I agree this is NOT a reason to accept mediocrity, nor an acceptable reason to keep Slocum. A main reason I pointed this out is to limit the Ron Strollo is a horrible AD comments. As bad as Slocum's record is, only Dan Peters has a higher winning percentage among HC's since Mike Rice. And, at least he has had some teams that were fun to watch, and managed to draw decent crowds to Beeghly. Also, Keston Roberts was a Slocum recruit. The 06-07 team did benefit from players brought in by Robic. The thing is, these are guys who played sparingly for Robic and found their way to his "dog house", something that seemed very easy for players to do under Robic. Three of the 5 leading scorers on the 06-07 team were Slocum recruits. And, I do not believe "Q" would have developed into the player he became with Robic as HC. He came to YSU as a guy who was an amazing athlete, but not much of a basketball player. He left as a very, very, very good basketball player. He played his final 2 years for Slocum. Another key contributor to that team whom Robic recruited was John Barber. He thrived under Slocum, as did Dwight Holmes, who was an amazing athlete, and did alot of things most fans do not recognize. Defense, rebounding, setting screens, supporting teammates, being an emotional spark off the bench.
Second, Slocum was given a contract extension in 2011. I do not know when his contract expires, and the people that at one time posted on this site who likely know that info do not post any longer. My guess is he has at least 2 years left, given that nothing is being mentioned about whether or not to extend his contract beyond 2015-16. With the current state of affairs money wise at YSU. it's hard for me to see where the money will come from to buy out the remainder of Slocum's contract, plus pay a new HC. Of course, the people who appear to not be able to live if Slocum returns for another year could always contact Ron Strollo, let him know how you feel about Slocum as HC, and then let Ron know you are willing to provide the money to pay the buyout.
Third, one problem for YSU Men's basketball in terms of finances is they lost their ONE AND ONLY Sugar Daddy back in the late 80's, when Mickey Monus started the WBL, and also began to funnel his money to the football program. Monus was a HUGE donor to YSU, and especially YSU basketball during the day's of Mike Rice. With Ytown being an area where people live and die for football, he was the only MAJOR donor the program had. It helps to have a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Momma, and preferable to have multiple Sugar's
. For many years, Denise and John York were huge donors to the womens program. I believe they pulled back most or all of their money intended specifically for women's basketball when Coach D was forced to resign. I do not know if they have resumed their donations to the women's program at the level during Coach D or not? I do know at that time, one of the things they did was sponsor one of the full scholarships for the women's program. That alone is very helpful to a program, and I'm pretty sure they did more than that in terms of financial contributions specified for women's basketball.
Fourth, the team this year is bad. There is no way to put this gently. They are bad, at least for the HL. This might be a competitive team in the NEC, as RMU is 8-10 overall, but 4-2 in the NEC and YSU won at RMU. Might even be a competitive team in the OVC, which is ranked 24th in RPI, and has only 3 teams with overall winning records when counting only D1 games. But, YSU plays in the HL, not the NEC or OVC. It is very hard at this point to see YSU winning more than 2-3 games the rest of the season. UIC and Milwaukee, and then maybe catch a team sleeping in a 3rd game at home. It's also possible to envision this team finishing 0-16 in the HL if they lose Saturday to UIC.
Fifth, YSU is and always will be a football school. I do not believe men's basketball has TRULY been a high priority at YSU since the mid/late 80's. I believe basketball ceased to be a high priority once Tressel got the football team winning consistently(which started in 1989) and slowly the crowds for football games began to increase. Also, as pointed out earlier in this post, Monus took his money to football, or at the very least to Ray Isaac and a few other players that lived with Ray and/or were close to Ray. Also, look at the replacement YSU hired for Cleamons in 1989. They promoted 29 year old John Stroia from assistant to HC. His experience was 1 year as a GA at Ball State, then 4 years as HC at The Ohio State University at Lima campus, and 2 years as an assistant at YSU. John was/is a nice guy. He tried his best. He was just in way over his head as HC at YSU.
In the 90's, YSU became one of the top programs in FCS football. And, Coach "D" turned YSU Women's basketball into one of the top D1 mid-major programs in the country. Men's basketball essentially became something to just past the time until Spring football. Now that YSU football has made the FCS playoffs only 1 time in the last 14 years, and with the decline of the women's team starting in the final few years of Coach "D", then continuing with Hill and Martin, the deficiencies in the men's basketball program became even more noticeable. Women's basketball has since been revived by Boldon and Barnes, which when combined with no playoffs for football, makes the lack of success for men's basketball more noticeable. And, joining the HL in the 01-02 just made those deficiencies even more glaring. YSU now has Jim Tressel as President. And, as attractive as that may be to a potential head football coach, I'm not sure it's going to be seen the same way by a potential men's basketball coach. Especially when the AD is a former YSU football player and Captain of the 1991 National Championship Team. Also, it would not surprise me if the story of what led to Peters leaving YSU to become an assistant coach at Cincy is still circulated among coaches when discussing the YSU job. Especially given that involved decisions made by Tressel while AD, and now Tressel is back as President. Also, my humble opinion is if the YSU football team begins making the playoffs again, and women's basketball continues to play at a high level, men's basketball will once again become an afterthought. For those of us who like basketball more than football, this is not positive. However, the reality is in the Ytown/Warren area, the people who prefer basketball to football are vastly outnumbered. I now live in Las Vegas, where it is the complete opposite. Basketball is king at UNLV(even thought they are woeful this year), and football is an after thought. So much so that Rebel Park, where the football team practices is jokingly called "Rebel Ark", because the "P" above the entrance to Rebel Park where the practice fields are located fell off several years ago, and has not yet been replaced.
